“…A second explanatory factor in the pattern of vocabulary development found here may concern shifting patterns of language exposure over time. In an ethnographic study of three bilingual families in England, Parke and Drury (2001) discuss the perception of an explicit 'change' from the L1 to English at the onset of formal schooling, with children suddenly finding themselves immersed in an English-language environment. Interestingly, there is emerging evidence that as well as exposure to English, bilingual children's own use of English is positively associated with growth in vocabulary knowledge (Paradis & Jia, 2017;Ribot, Hoff & Burridge, 2018).…”
Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a diverse and growing group of pupils in England’s schools. Relative to their monolingual (ML) peers, these children tend to show lower receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge in English, although interpretation of findings is limited by small and heterogeneous samples. In an effort to increase representativeness and power, the present study combined published and unpublished datasets from six cross-sectional and four longitudinal studies investigating the vocabulary development of 434 EAL learners and 342 ML peers (age range: 4;9–11;5) in 42 primary schools. Multilevel modelling confirmed previous findings of significantly lower English vocabulary scores of EAL learners and some degree of convergence in receptive but not expressive knowledge by the end of primary school. Evidence for narrowing of the gap in receptive knowledge was found only in datasets spanning a longer developmental period, hinting at the protracted nature of this convergence.
“…A second explanatory factor in the pattern of vocabulary development found here may concern shifting patterns of language exposure over time. In an ethnographic study of three bilingual families in England, Parke and Drury (2001) discuss the perception of an explicit 'change' from the L1 to English at the onset of formal schooling, with children suddenly finding themselves immersed in an English-language environment. Interestingly, there is emerging evidence that as well as exposure to English, bilingual children's own use of English is positively associated with growth in vocabulary knowledge (Paradis & Jia, 2017;Ribot, Hoff & Burridge, 2018).…”
Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a diverse and growing group of pupils in England’s schools. Relative to their monolingual (ML) peers, these children tend to show lower receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge in English, although interpretation of findings is limited by small and heterogeneous samples. In an effort to increase representativeness and power, the present study combined published and unpublished datasets from six cross-sectional and four longitudinal studies investigating the vocabulary development of 434 EAL learners and 342 ML peers (age range: 4;9–11;5) in 42 primary schools. Multilevel modelling confirmed previous findings of significantly lower English vocabulary scores of EAL learners and some degree of convergence in receptive but not expressive knowledge by the end of primary school. Evidence for narrowing of the gap in receptive knowledge was found only in datasets spanning a longer developmental period, hinting at the protracted nature of this convergence.
“…These were challenges faced by some of the researchers in Blackledge and Creese’s (2010) study and in the work on faith literacy by Gregory and Lytra (2012), but I did not enjoy the benefits they did of being part of a large team where data and analyses were shared. The challenges of not sharing language, ethnicity and culture were also faced by Gregory (1994) and Brooker (2002) in their ethnographic studies of British Bangladeshi children, by Parke and Drury (2001) in their study of British Pakistani children and by Rogers (2002), Rogers and Mosley (2006), Rogers and Christian (2007) and Compton-Lilly (2006, 2008) in their work with African American children. Rogers and Mosley (2006) sought to address the challenges of carrying out research as two White women by ‘cross-checking our interpretations with scholars of color as well as with White scholars who consider themselves antiracist’ (p. 473).…”
This paper explores some of the ways in which children's ethnic identities have been conceptualised by socio-cultural and critical race theory and the potential of the 'figured worlds' literature in helping to theorise the responses of young children to the cultural and educational worlds they encounter. Using some vignettes drawn from the author's ethnographic study of the ethnic identities of a group of three and four year old white British and British Pakistani children in a kindergarten in the north of England, the paper explores the potential of a figured worlds analysis in understanding how the children respond to some of the experiences of the kindergarten and in understanding how they seek to make sense of their identities. The paper concludes that whilst structural and cultural factors shaped the ways in which the children engaged or did not engage in the social and educational practices of the kindergarten and played a very significant part in how they viewed themselves and viewed others, the children were not only silent observers of what the world offered or did not offer them. A dialogic self was evident that authored and tried to make sense of the world but, in so doing, designated identities meant that only particular figured worlds were available to children for much of the time. It is argued that what a figured worlds reading offers is a means of seeking to uncover and theorise the complex ways in which young children experience and perform their identities and respond to the social and educational practices in particular contexts. This is seen as having value in providing a framework for early childhood academics and educators to work together to support children in exploring alternative figured identities that challenge, alleviate and transform the constraints that positional identities often seem to impose on them.
“…This notion of complexity is common in much of the literature concerning FLA and SLA; Soderman and Oshio (, p. 298) consider FLA “complex”, and Clark writes that “second‐language acquisition is as complex as the acquisition of the first language but with a wide variety of variables added in” (Clark, , p. 184), this being one factor leading, presumably, to the “complexity of early years pedagogy” (Bligh, , p. 12). Yet the nature of FLA, and the theories associated with it, are sometimes seen as unproblematic for understanding SLA; Parke and Drury, for example, merely note that a “full, ‘normal’ linguistic environment … is essential for the development of language in young children” (Parke & Drury, , p. 125), leading them to the conjecture that “it does look as though there is a common storage of languages in the mind” (Parke & Drury, , p. 126). Another example which sees the relationship between FLA and SLA as largely unproblematic comes from Clarke (), who writes: The first language … forms the foundation for all later language development (Clarke, , p. 9).Similarly, in relation to language acquisition, Soderman and Oshio write: The process of becoming competent in a first language requires very young children to master: phonology (the sounds of the language); vocabulary (the words of the language); grammar (the way the words are ordered and put together); discourse (the way the sentences are put together); and pragmatics (the rules of how to use the language) … Though complex, a child's initial foray into language development begins at birth as the child interacts with others, building both a receptive vocabulary and a phenomenal ability to express all of the other important pieces of their language in a fairly competent manner by the age of five (Soderman & Oshio, , p. 298).Quite how children do ‘master’ phonology, grammar, discourse and pragmatics is left unexplained.…”
This paper considers the use made of Vygotsky's work by many who take a sociocultural perspective and, in particular, by those who use his work to advance a particular view of second language acquisition and the 'silent period'. It is argued that Vygotsky's account as represented in Thought and Language (Vygotsky, 1986) needs to be thought of as consisting of two distinct aspects: first, the observations he made (or claimed to have made) and, second, the theoretical account he proposed to explain them. It is shown that some of Vygotsky's observations are problematic but that, even if they are accepted, Vygotsky's theoretical account suffers from fundamental difficulties. Thus the support claimed from Vygotsky in accounts of second language acquisition is misplaced, first because of those difficulties and, second, because many who claim support from Vygotsky, do not need or even use his theory but instead focus their attention on his empirical observations and assume incorrectly that if their own empirical observations match Vygotsky's, then Vygotsky's theory can be accepted.Wittgenstein's later philosophy is shown to provide a perspective which dispels confusions about, and gives us a clearer insight into, the issues.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
